Phyllo-wrapped asparagus and prosciutto

It doesn’t take much to get me to buy something tasty. At our local Co-op on Saturday, that nudge in the purchasing direction came by way of a guy handing out samples of La Quercia prosciutto Americano, an Iowa product that I’d heard about through various local foodie friends, but had not yet tried. Steve and I each took a healthy piece as the guy hawking it told us how much less salty it is then more traditional prosciutto. The guy was right, and the package was in my basket with no more prompting.

See how easy it is, food purveyors? See? You’ve got your high-end meat, your crazy-good cheese, your locally-produced milk? Just tell me it’s good and give me a taste. Take a tip from the heroin dealers.

“Let’s go get some asparagus,” I said to Steve.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I can wrap it in the prosciutto, and then wrap it in some phyllo and bake it up. It’ll be good.”

“Of course,” Steve said, shaking his head in disbelief. “What else would you do with prosciutto?”

However, as breezy and confident as I might have seemed in the store, the truth is that I was about to take my first plunge into the world of phyllo dough. I had some stashed in the freezer, a gift from a friend who was moving out of town and clearing out her freezer, and it had been in there way too long already. It needed to be used, and I needed to get over my fear of easy-to-tear pastry sheets.

(Matt mentioned how I was freaking myself out over composting in his comment on my Garbage Buffet post, and I must tell you…I am quite capable of freaking myself out over everything from compost to phyllo.)

At home, I prepared everything before unwrapping the phyllo. I trimmed the asparagus, wrapped it in prosciutto, and melted butter for brushing onto the pastry sheets. When it was time to begin the operation, we set up an assembly line, and Steve pitched in as resident cheese doser, sprinkling the Parmesan on the pastry before I rolled it around the prosciutto-asparagus bundles. Half an hour in the oven, and we had appetizers for dinner.

Phyllo-wrapped prosciutto and asparagus
(Serves 6 to 10 as an appetizer)

(Note: If you are a vegetarian, just leave out the prosciutto, add a little more Parmesan for extra flavor, and all’s well.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Trim the asparagus. Wrap each spear with proscuitto.

Melt the butter.

When those ingredients are ready, unwrap the phyllo dough. Most instructions will tell you to work on one sheet at a time while keeping the rest covered with a damp towel, but I ended up leaving the towel to one side – it was just getting in the way.

Brush each sheet of phyllo with butter, then fold in half lengthwise. Brush folded sheet with butter again, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Place one asparagus spear bundle at one end of the sheet, and roll it up. Place the bundle in a 9×13 baking pan (you may need an additional 8×8 or 9×9 pan for the overflow) and continue until all spears have been wrapped.

Brush all the bundles with the remaining melted butter and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are nicely browned. Serve immediately.

now proscuitto i can do! i was at a dinner party a few months ago that was a casual competition among friends with proscuitto as the anchoring ingredient. and with only a small dash of pride, i claimed the winning proscuitto recipe, with a fine dessert by:

1. Coring whole apples and halving (and coring) pears, drizzling with just a small shot of sugar water, and baking them at about 450 degrees until soft but still keep their shape.(about 50 minutes)

2. lining a serving plate with fine slices of proscuitto (and i did use la quercia!), and placing the warm, oozing baked fruit on the slices. LET THE PLATE SIT FOR ABOUT 15-20 MINUTES WHICH GIVES TIME FOR THE CARMALIZING FRUIT JUICES TO RUN AMOK ON THE PROSCUITTO SLICES. (this is the most important part really…)

3. top the fruit with a dash of marscapone cheese and some proscuitto crumble (which is basically proscuitto that has been fried up for just a minute or two til it shrivels like bacon), and even, dare i say, some fresh or dried mint.

easy, but super satisfying!

and for more info about la quercia, which is now available outside of iowa at some whole foods markets and, most impressivley, at the meat counter at NYC’s famous fairway market, take a look at the winter issue of http://www.edibileiowarivervalley.com. it’s the story behind the pig cover. i also hear that la quercia will have a booth at this year’s iowa state fair. should we go?

Mint Killer, wow…your prosciutto dessert sounds inspired! I’m going to have to give that a try. I’m glad to hear La Quercia is available at Fairway Market — very cool. And yes…whether La Quercia’s at the State Fair or not, I’m all over it. Must. Eat. Corn Dogs.

Just in time for the tale end of our asparagus season. I’ve run out of new ideas and this will be a perfect starter tomorrow!
Well done! And very prettily done, also!
I’ll have to look in the local markets when I’m in the U.S. next month to see if they carry that ham, less salty sounds good (although, I normally don’t pay attention)

I also have a fear of phyllo. Maybe this recipe will help me overcome. Except that last year when my dad came over to plow the garden for us, I forgot about the asparagus patch. Oops! Dear husband was not happy with me. Oh well, farmers market will be open soon.

Kalyn, thanks for the drop-by. Now that I’ve tried it once, I’m feeling a little more brave, but am not yet sure what I’ll try it with next. In a moment of decadence, I looked at a couple of baklava recipes, then decided I’d be better off just buying it ready-made.

[...] that’s Serrano Reserva or, occasionally, Iowa’s own La Quercia Prosciutto Americano, which I still remember trying for the first time on the end of a toothpick in the New Pioneer Co-op in Iowa City, just before their product exploded [...]